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Blue Jackets say just making playoffs not enough

Published on NewsOK
Modified: April 14, 2014 at 4:38 pm •
Published: April 14, 2014

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Columbus Blue Jackets have never won a playoff game.

Forward Mark Letestu looks at that as an opportunity instead of a stigma.

FILE - In this April 8, 2014, file photo, Columbus Blue Jackets' Sergei Bobrovsky, of Russia, defends the goal against the Phoenix Coyotes in an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets, playing in the postseason for only the second time in franchise history, open the Stanley Cup playoffs at the Pittsburgh Penguins, Wednesday, April 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

"I don't think there's a burden," he said during preparations for the Blue Jackets' first-round playoff battle with Pittsburgh that opens Wednesday. "This team's into firsts. We set a franchise record in wins, we're back in the playoffs now after a long drought. This team's all about setting firsts. I don't think we view that as an 'if'; I think it's a 'when.'"

At the very least, the Blue Jackets are hoping their second trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs lasts somewhat longer than the first.

In 2009 they took on the Detroit Red Wings. Four games and eight days later, it was all over.

Jared Boll, the longest serving Blue Jacket, concedes that maybe the big thing five years ago was just making it into the postseason.

"It was a goal of ours and we made it," he said. "But this year, it's different. We're here now and we expect to do good things. We're not satisfied with just making the playoffs. We want to be successful."

The Blue Jackets, owners of the first wild card in the East after a franchise-best 43-32-7 (93 points) season, are a decided underdog against the Penguins.

Still, they're aware that just getting into the playoffs isn't going to cut it anymore. The bar has been raised.

Coach Todd Richards said just winning a game against the Penguins isn't the point.

"It would just be one game. We have to win four games. It's about winning the series," he said. "One game doesn't win you a series. We have to be prepared to put games behind us right away, good or bad. And get ready for the next game."

With one of the youngest rosters in the NHL — an average age of between 26 and 27 years old — many of the Blue Jackets are still kids. They're even younger without forwards Nick Foligno (lower body) and R.J. Umberger (shoulder), who may return later in the series, and without prized offseason signing Nathan Horton, out for the postseason after abdominal surgery.

Besides, it's the young guys who drive the team. Take, for example, the club's scoring leader, Ryan Johansen. At the ripe old age of 21, he piled up 33 goals and 30 assists. But he still is a newcomer to the sport's biggest stage.

At Monday morning's practice, he was transfixed by skating around on the home ice — which for the first time bore the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs logo.